Posted: 14 Jan 2022 11:24 AM PST

A business man is in Nogales, Arizona and decides to stay at an old hotel in town. He soon discovers items being moved. Then, at night, he hears and observes water filling the bathtub.

I received the following account from Kyle & Cam at Expanded Perspectives:

“In the mid to late 1990s, I owned a Texas based national general contracting company serving large big-box stores like Kmart, Wal-Mart and Barnes & Nobles, etc. As the founder & CEO of the organization is was my job to represent the company to our clients.

It was one of these occasions where I was required to travel to Nogales, AZ, to meet with a client’s regional representatives to discuss a major upgrade project on their Southwestern regional locations. Basically, I was present to wine, dine and assure them we were the company for the project. Pretty straightforward business as usual.

Although I previously mentioned wine please understand that I did not drink, do drugs or have any psychological issues to deal with.

That morning I flew into Phoenix, rented a car, and drove to Nogales. Nogales is an old town that rests on the USA/Texas border and I could sense the history and age as I drove through the town and up to the hotel I had booked. It was an older hotel and its age showed but seemed clean enough so I took my bags to the room.

At the time I was carrying my laptop computer. These were the days when laptops were large, clunky, and expensive so I took very special care with them. I sat the laptop and my briefcase on the bed and my suitcase on a rack in the corner.

It was a mild late afternoon and I still had an hour or so to kill before I was to meet with the client for dinner at a local steakhouse. I pulled a cigar from my briefcase and set out to walk around the block to check out the area. I smoked my cigar and strolled leisurely around until I was finished with the smoke and returned to my room.

As I unlocked and entered the room I sensed something strange and immediately felt myself tensing and becoming on guard. I looked at the bed and my heart sunk for a moment. My laptop was nowhere in sight. I checked the door to the back balcony and it was locked. I just knew it had been stolen.

As I turned to head to the office to make a report I saw my laptop propped against the wall by the bed. This was something I would not do. I picked it up, opened it, and felt a great relief as all seemed OK. As I tried to rationalize what had happened, I considered the maid making a turn-down call, but frankly, this hotel was not that upscale and the bed was not turned down. Had I left it there and just did not remember? Not very likely. I racked my brain and could not really develop a satisfactory answer.

Time caught up to me and I had to leave for the dinner meeting. I left the hotel and soon forgot about the incident. We had a good steak dinner and dealt with business and I was back in the hotel room by about 11:30 pm. Soon I was off to sleep.

Suddenly, around 1:30 am I was abruptly awakened by a sound. It was the loud sound of water running. I laid there looking up and thinking maybe this old hotel does not have adequate insulation and the person next door was taking a shower. But, this sound was just too loud. I got up and went towards the sound. It was coming from my bathroom. I leaned into the doorway and turned on the light half expecting to see a broken pipe or something similar. As my eyes adjusted to the light and my hearing to the sound I realized the sound was in the bathtub behind the shower curtain. I pulled back the curtain and saw water gushing from the bathtub faucet.

At this point, you might think it was just a sudden change in the water pressure or a faucet gone bad. Maybe I had not turned it off completely and the pressure changed at night to make it run. First, I had not used the tub or its shower. (I usually shower in the mornings). I had only used the sink to wash up before bed. Second, and most importantly it took me FOUR complete turns to stop the water! I guess whatever it was needed a bath.

After a few minutes of contemplating this and the earlier afternoon event, I was not able to sleep for the rest of the night. The bathroom door was around the corner and just out of sight from the bed. I lay there watching that corner of the room until sunrise.

I packed, left town, and never looked back.” GB

Phantoms & Monsters